Egiziani-Italiani: Balancing Two Identities A Brief Ethnographic Exploration of Clash, Cultural Pluralism and Identity-Negotiation in Milan, Italy. An Honors Capstone Project by Amy `Aminah' Teachout General University Honors, Spring 2008 Advisor: Prof. David Vine Abstract: This project sought a nuanced understanding of migration and identity negotiation among Egyptian immigrants in Milan, Italy. The primary goal was to identify components of cultural pluralism and sources of cultural clash via ethnographic research. In this paper, I analyze the experience of immigration based on research conducted over three months among Egyptian-Italians with family-run businesses and native Milanese in two neighborhoods salient for their immigrant population. A thorough review of related literature preceded my research and is also provided for context. Findings show that there are critical differences in the immigration experience of Muslims and Non-Muslims and that language use is the primary means of identity negotiation. Additionally, standards and expectations relating to sexual activity, religious practices and social behavior are the definitive topics for clash or cultural pluralism. Analysis suggests that the existence of common Mediterranean values could form the basis of pluralism in Milan. Cultural clash in the communities studied could derive from a crisis of Italian identity as a result of changing demographics (European integration, low fertility rates, aging population, and high rates of immigration) and differences in norms of behavior between immigrant and non-immigrant communities. Teachout 2 Contents Preface ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 3 Introduction¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 3 Methods & Methodology¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼4 Sites & Individuals¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 5 Ethnographic Research Versus Scholarly Literature¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼7-10 The Migration Experience of Muslims versus Coptic Egyptians¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 7 Language Use as the Primary Means of Identity-Negotiation¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼7 Promiscuity as a Mechanism for Assimilation or Isolation¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼9 Religious Beliefs versus Religious Practices¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 9 Conclusion¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼10 Opportunities for Further Research¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼12-15 Mediterranean Values? ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼.¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼12 An Approach to Italian Curricula that Recognizes the Arab History of Southern Italy and the Mediterranean Region¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼12 My Milano¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 13 Italarabono (Arabo + Italiano) ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼14 Italian Politics & Media Characterization of Immigrants¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 14 Remittances & Social Status¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼14 F.S. Internazionale¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼15 Notes¼¼¼..¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼16 Appendix¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 17-37 Bibliography with Selected Annotations¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼17 Figures not featured in-text¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼28 Abbreviated Daily Log [location of notes] ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 30 Interview Schedule (English) ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼31 Project Proposal and Independent Study ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ 32 Proposed Syllabus¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼33 Grant Proposal¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼35 Capstone Conference Slide Show¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ On CD Audio Recording of Conference Presentation¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ On CD Final Paper (Electronic Version) ¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼ On CD Reimbursement Documents¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼¼38 Teachout 3 Egiziani-Italiani: Balancing Two Identities An Ethnographic Exploration of Clash, Cultural Pluralism and Identity-Negotiation in Milan, Italy Preface Honors Capstone Research Project This project was intended to cap off my studies at American University in Political Science, Anthropology, Arabic and Italian and in a way that combines all my interests and provides practical application. Research was organized in pursuit of finding an alternative perspective (less pessimistic and more pluralist) on the current demographic situation and political and cultural discourse about immigration in Italy. This paper captures both my brief ethnographic experience in Milan and provides a literature-based context from which these interactions can be examined. My notes, a chaotic string of Arabish and Italiarabano, reveal something new and provocative every time I read thru them, so this paper presents a work-progress, or better, only an introductory investigation of the issues and themes addressed. This project was conducted during Spring 2008 under the supervision of Professor David Vine in compliance with the University Honors Departments' Capstone requirements for General University Honors. Introduction ªThe statistical conversion of Italy from a country of net emigration to one of net immigration in the early 1970s was the combined product of three different migration trends: the constantly declining flow of emigrants; the steady profile of return migration; and the dramatic rise in immigration, mostly from the developing world, which grew wit an accelerating rhythm through the 1970 and 1980s.º1 Italy has traditionally been labeled a country of emigrants, with Italians constituting some percentage of the population in every Anglo-Saxon country in the world. During the past two or three decades however, Italy has transformed into a country of immigrants. Italy's fertility rate has been below replacement rate since 19752. This has created an age structure that is posing serious problems to the labor force, health care, retirement system and immigration policy. As seen in the figure below (1a), the young generation is only about half the size 1a 1b as the largest baby boom cohort, so a projected population pyramid for 2050 (see 1b) is quite alarming. The xenophobia that underlies much of the literature regarding immigration and demographic change in Italy is based on the fact the population of Italy is shrinking, and given the higher fertility rates of immigrant women, the percentage of native Italians is doing so somewhat more drastically. Teachout 4 Immigration during the past three decades is not simply comparatively very high, but also distinct because the majority of immigrants are arriving from the developing world. Immigrants compose approximately 5% of the Italian population 3. Most recent immigrants are settling in the North, from many different countries (see figure A, in appendix) with large percentages of them from Romania, Morocco, China and Albania. According to ISTAT, there are almost 60,000 Egyptians in Italy, the largest percentage of which are living in Milan. Methods & Methodology ªThe ethnographer's central purpose it to describe a social world and its people.º 4 This projected was conducted under the assumption that stories of real, human experience can provide equally as dependable insight about handling Europe's changing face as academic or statistical research does. Ethnography is usually conducted over a matter of years and this endeavors lasted only a couple months, so by no means are my findings a collection of polished, holistic thoughts, but they are an honest attempt to frame some very charged issues in a more human and distinctly ethnographic way. In terms of methodology, ethnographic research naturally lends itself to relativism. I tried to approach research thru the lens of constructivism, and ultimately my methodology can best be described with what Genzuk calls naturalism, which implies that social events and processes must be explained in terms of their relationship to the context in which they occur.5 The goal of this project was to compare the literature on demographic change and cultural `clash' in Northern Italy to the actual experiences of immigrants living in Milan. To meet this end, I approached my research with two primary research questions: (1) How does the experience of Egyptians in Milan complicate traditional concepts of integration or acculturation; clash versus pluralism? And (2) how do Egyptian immigrants define and sustain their identities? I had not expected the majority of my research to take the form of participant observation but it proven both unavoidable and infinitely effective. In total, I conducted approximately 450 hours of participant observation. In addition, I conducted approximately 200 hours of interviews that ranged from unstructured and very informal, to semi- structured and formal, with a total of fifteen participants. ªFieldworkº began on January 20th 2008 and was completed April 1st 2008. When I use the phrase `participant observation' I refer to two separate ideas: One of which is dealt explicitly in this paper and the other simply tints the perspective thru which I understand and experience my research. The first is the traditional means of participant observation, in which the `observer' shares in the daily life of the `participants', attempting to merge themselves with the daily grind of those they observe in hopes of better understand them and their social organization. Additionally, I was a `participant observer' (or, `observing participant') during my research in the fact that I myself am a Muslim and therefore am an object of my own study. While my own Teachout 5 experiences is not central in this analysis, having been able to understand some of the challenges presented by Italian society to being Muslim first hand, I feel I was better